Savage Suicide
by ZombieCatTookMyPudding
Summary: (Requested by 5UP3RNOVA2015, AU where the Nighthowler cure isn't found.) Bellwether is arrested, but the predators remain savage without an antidote in sight. A devastated Mrs. Otterton watches her and her sons' life fall apart, until one night she decides to end it all. (One-shot.)


**A/N**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own _Zootopia_. All rights go to their respective owners. Also, this was a request by 5UP3RNOVA2015, so credit goes to them for the main idea.**

* * *

A nefarious plot had just been uncovered within Zootopia: Assistant Mayor Bellwether had been harvesting Nighthowler berries, and hiring criminals to administer them to random predators, in order to turn former prey animals against them, in order for her to rise against her boss, Mayor Lionheart. Luckily, she and anyone working under her name had been placed under a swift arrest.

The loss of one predator in particular, Emmitt Otterton, had been devastating for his family.

"Have they found the cure yet?" his older son would anxiously ask his mother.

"When is dad coming home?" their younger son didn't do much to help Mrs. Otterton's stress.

It seemed every night, she would spend several hours sitting at the kitchen table, crying into her glass of wine. She couldn't muster the heart or courage to tell her children that a Nighthowler cure had still not been found, despite frantic efforts of Zootopian scientists.

Days, weeks, and even months had passed, and the Nighthowler cure still had never been found. All of the predators affected were still savage to this day, with no hope for their rescue anytime soon. The boys had even stopped asking, and did their best to do well in school, improve their soccer-playing, and carry about their lives as every other kid in their neighborhood did.

Their mother never recovered even closely as well as they did. Soon the one glass of wine to take the edge off had turned to two, three, and even reached the point where she would down a bottle or two at a time. Her alcoholism had forced her children to take care of themselves, making their own meals, faking parental signatures, and to get ready in the morning. They had even done odd jobs around the neighborhood, but the occasional wad of twenty dollars or less did next to nothing to help pay the bills. One by one, they could no longer afford the necessities: gas, heat, water, electricity...their house had become nothing more than walls they stayed in.

One may have thought Mrs. Otterton never had a clue what was going on, but she did. Her kids were struggling, and her grief drained all of her energy, making her feel as if she were helpless to stop them. Every time she had considered snapping herself out of this state, the moment she would look back at her two boys, she could only see Emmitt in them, and it was only a reminder that she would never see her beloved husband ever again.

* * *

For the protection of the remaining residents of Zootopia, the savage predators had been locked away in a facility on the outskirts of town, where they would be cared for in what was likely to be their final days. Since Mrs. Otterton and her chidren were regular visitors for their husband and father, respectively, they had been given verified passes by the city hall so they could come and see him any time they liked. That didn't mean they had gotten much out of their visits...Emmitt was so far gone, he didn't remember anything about his life before being hit by the Nighthowler...not even remember his own family.

"Mom, why are we here?" the older Otterton boy asked. "I thought you didn't like seeing dad like this."

"We're here..." Mrs. Otterton choked, holding back tears. "We're here to say 'goodbye' to Daddy."

The Otterton's kids eyes grew wide with fear.

"'Goodbye'?! Why?!" the younger son began to shake with anxiety. "Is he going to _die_?!"

"...Not...not quite." She hadn't told them the plan she had formulated in her head. With each passing day, life was getting worse and worse without Emmitt...and she knew this was the only way to fix it.

The children looked up at her, their eyes wide, still unsure of what to do.

"...Well, go on!" she bit her lip, her eyes stinging. "Tell Daddy 'goodbye'! Tell him you'll miss him!"

With tears in their eyes, they said their last goodbyes, doing as they were told, without knowing exactly why. Mrs. Otterton tried to open her mouth, she tried to do as her sons just did, but with another crying spell washing over her, she couldn't bring herself to speak at all. It just hurt too much.

Ushering her softly sobbing boys down the hallway, Mrs. Otterton made sure they were to walk _very_ slowly. Her eyes scanned the hallway, until at the sight of a timid prairie dog employee opening one of the doors caught her eye.

"There," she hissed, pushing her children in the open cell door's direction. "Go there, now."

"Why?" the younger one questioned.

"Because I said so," she said, relentlessly pushing them closer to the door.

"Erm, ma'am, you can't go inside the cell-"

He was promptly cut off when Mrs. Otterton punched him in the gut, sending him FLYING down the hall.

"The he-"

The end of the older son's sentence was stopped when he and his brother were shoved into the cell, sliding on their faces halfway across the floor.

Looking up, the two pairs of terrified brown eyes were met with a bright green pair of a black savage jaguar that emerged from the shadows.

"Mom, what're you doing?! We need to get out of here!" The older son cried.

Sobbing, his mother didn't listen. She only slammed the cell door shut. The kids didn't know what was going on, but they did know one thing: their mom had completely and utterly lost it.

"I DID THIS!" she wailed. "I DID THIS TO MY CHILDREN!" she cried, turning and dropping to her knees. "IT'S BECAUSE OF ME WE SUFFER!"

Slowly, the jaguar began to stalk his prey.

"Help!" the younger cried towards the window. "Someone, please, help!"

"PLEASE!" Mrs. Otterton grabbed her sons' shoulders and stood behind them. "TAKE OUR LIVES! IT'S THE ONLY WAY!"

"Wait, _what?!"_

"NO NO NO! I DON'T _WANNA_ DIE!"

But the predatory animal heard not their pleas: he only smelled delicious prey to eat.

In one swift movement, he leaped forward and devoured the older boy whole. The younger screamed in terror, though the piercing sound was not to last: he shortly followed, meeting the same fate as his brother.

Knots turning in her stomach, Mrs. Otterton lost strength to kneel, and the upper half of her body dropped. The deed had been done. Her children's pain was over...and soon, hers would be, too.

"Goodbye, Emmitt," she whispered.

Manches snapped her up, and the rest of her until nothing was left.

Yawning, Manches paced back to a corner of his cell, his distended stomach dragging on the ground, ready for a nap.

 _GURGLE GURGLE!_

Eyes open, he suddenly felt a lot of stomach pain. Soon the rest of his body began to blow up like a balloon, and made him float to the ceiling! Soon he couldn't hold back the air trapped in his body, and he let out a BIG FART, his balloon-like body flying back and forth through the room, before he finally deflated and landed in the middle of the cell.

The janitor looked inside the cell at the mess, and said "fuck that, I quit!"

 **THE END.**


End file.
